


The Late Arrival

by TheFandomLesbian



Series: Spencer's Raulson One-Shots [57]
Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Asylum
Genre: Angst, Animal Death, Bananun, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Set in To Light and Guard universe but can be read separately, raulson - Freeform, tlag universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFandomLesbian/pseuds/TheFandomLesbian
Summary: Mary Eunice keeps arriving home later and later. Lana suspects she's cheating and confronts her.
Relationships: Sister Mary Eunice/Lana Winters
Series: Spencer's Raulson One-Shots [57]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1214643
Comments: 6
Kudos: 64





	The Late Arrival

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nicole_scully](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicole_scully/gifts).



> For a prompt from AllyC13 where Lana suspects Mary Eunice is cheating but it turns out to be a horrible misunderstanding.

It all started with a phone call. Lana was at her desk, leaning over her manuscript of her second book. Gus napped at her feet. His jowls dangled over one naked foot and leaked drool onto her skin and the carpet. The typewriter clacked as her fingers skittered across the keys. And then the telephone rang. 

“Eastside 7-7387, this is Lana.” 

“Hey, cupcake, it’s me.” Mary Eunice’s voice crackled over the line to her. Lana smiled in relief at the sound, but then she glanced at the clock.  _ She’s usually home by now. _ “I’m going to be pretty late getting home this evening. I need to stop by the church for awhile.” 

Part of Lana wanted to ask  _ why _ , but she bit the tip of her tongue, knowing it was probably some Catholic ritual. Mary Eunice would have explained if she felt like explaining. “Okay, sure. I’ll have dinner ready when you come home.”

“Would you rather me buy something on my way? I don’t want to come down to find the house burnt to the ground.”

Lana laughed. “I’m getting better. You’re teaching me. Let me impress you.”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Bye.” She waited until she heard the line die. Then, her eyes found the clock again.  _ She probably won’t spend more than an hour at the church. _ She headed into the kitchen to get started on a simple dish, some vegetable soup, figuring it would be done when Mary Eunice arrived. 

It was done. But there was no Mary Eunice. Lana kept it on the stove, and eventually she got hungry enough to eat it. She sat and watched  _ Bonanza _ alone. She showered alone. By the time nine o’clock rolled around, she had gone from mildly irritated at Mary Eunice’s tardiness to downright worried. She paced by the front door.  _ Maybe I should call the police.  _ And say what? Her girlfriend had told her she was going to be late with no time frame and then  _ was _ late? They’d laugh her off the telephone. 

But headlights shone in the window as the car pulled up the driveway, and Mary Eunice parked and got out of the car, heading up the sidewalk to the house. Lana unlocked the door and opened it for her before she could even reach for her keys. “Where were you?” Lana demanded. Mary Eunice flinched at the sharp tone of her voice.  _ Okay, crazy, calm down. _ Lana cleared her throat. “Sorry—Sorry. I worried. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded—” As Mary Eunice entered the house, Lana closed the door behind her and locked it. “What happened? What took so long?”

“Father Joseph needed some company, that’s all.” Mary Eunice slipped off her shoes. “I’m starved.” Her eyes were tired and sad, and Lana wanted to ask her more questions, but she didn’t. Instead, she shadowed Mary Eunice to the kitchen and watched her take the bowl of soup out of the microwave. “Did you give Gus his medicine?” Gus followed her, panting through his open mouth. “He’s hassling again.”

Lana sighed. “I did. I know.” She pressed her temple with one hand. Gus had been on medication for his congestive heart failure for several months now, upping the dose every time he started drowning again. “And his kidney medicine, and his joint supplement, and his probiotic.” She worried her lower lip between her teeth. Gus had lost weight—though he was still heavier than when they had found his skeletal shape and taken him under their roof. “I’m starting to wonder… when it’s time.” Mary Eunice gave her a sad, sideways look. “How will we know?” 

“We’ll know,” Mary Eunice promised her, giving her hand a sympathetic squeeze. “When there are more bad days than good days…” 

“How do we know it’s a bad day if he’s still happy to see us?” Lana’s voice broke. She wasn’t ready to lose Gus yet. Mary Eunice reached for her and hugged her. She was maintaining her composure much better than Lana was. Lana wasn’t sure why, if the years at Briarcliff had hardened her to the idea of death or if her faith softened her belief in the finality of mortality. “I’m not ready yet.” 

“He knows. He’s not ready, either.” Mary Eunice tucked Lana’s hair behind her ear and kissed her on the lips. “Let me eat dinner and we can go snuggle.”

That night, Lana had forgotten all about her worry for Mary Eunice’s late arrival, as they pulled Gus between them on their bed and gave his noble, silver face love until he drooled himself off to sleep. 

In fact, Lana would have forgotten about the incident altogether… but it kept happening. First just once a week, then twice a week, then three times, with the hour of Mary Eunice’s return growing later and later. Lana waited up for her on the couch one day as the clock drew close to midnight. Gus was on the couch, stretched out across her lap on his back while she scratched his tummy. Headlights shone in the window, and then Mary Eunice unlocked the front door and entered. She locked it behind herself. “Hey, cupcake.” Mary Eunice had that pathetic, sad look on her face again. “I thought you would’ve been asleep by now.” 

“I worried about you.” Gus wagged his tail as he rolled off of her and ran to Mary Eunice’s side. “It’s almost midnight. Where were you?” 

Mary Eunice shed her purse and her coat and her shoes by the door. “I was at church.” 

“It’s Tuesday.”

A frown crossed her lips. “The church is open seven days a week. Father Joseph has wanted a friend, that’s all.”

Lana resisted the urge to object,  _ Doesn’t he have priest friends? _ She couldn’t tear Mary Eunice away from her faith… as much as she wanted to, as much as she envied the attention Mary Eunice was giving him and missed her girlfriend and the evenings they shared together. “I missed you.” She gave Mary Eunice a kiss. “I made dinner.” 

“Thank you, Lana, but I’m not hungry… I just want to sleep.” Her face was worn. Lana tucked a lock of golden hair behind her ear, nodding slowly as she took Mary Eunice by the hand and led her back to the bedroom. There, they spooned, Gus lying at the foot of the bed. But when Lana kissed her neck, Mary Eunice pulled away in discomfort. “Not tonight…” she whispered. 

She stopped without being asked again. She tried to push away Mary Eunice’s disinterest in the back of her mind—it was just a phase, she told herself. Mary Eunice would get over it. Lana wanted to talk to her about it, but she was hardly ever home long enough for them to talk at all.  _ I’ll try harder. _ And she did. She slipped notes into Mary Eunice’s lunchbox before she left for work. She made the bed every morning because she knew it mattered to Mary Eunice to go to sleep in a made bed. She tried to cook—whether or not she was successful depended on the day. But Mary Eunice still didn’t want to touch her, dodged her kisses, and rarely smiled. 

Lana missed her smile. 

Going to bed alone was never easy. She kept her arms wrapped around Gus each night. Sometimes, she wept into his fur. Mary Eunice kept giving her the same answer—she was at church. Father Joseph needed help. Father Joseph needed a friend. Father Joseph needed.  _ She wouldn’t lie to me… _ Lana knew Father Joseph was far too innocent and kind to ever take advantage of Mary Eunice or her time or her friendship. Besides, Mary Eunice was a lesbian.  _ Is there another woman?  _ Lana wanted to doubt it, but she was running out of other explanations. There was a new class of nuns upcoming.  _ Has she fallen for one of them? _ They were all younger than Lana, and they shared Mary Eunice’s faith in a way she never could.  _ I’m going to make myself sick. _ But when Mary Eunice finally did come home, she never wanted to talk about it. She wore that same sorrowful face, and she sank into the bed silently. 

She awoke one night after going to bed alone to find the mattress beside her still vacant.  _ This is new.  _ She rolled over to peek at the clock on the bedside table. “Four in the morning?” Very new. Mary Eunice hadn’t stayed out past midnight yet. Lana fumbled around for the lamp on the bedside table. Gus sat up where he saw her and kissed her face. “Yeah, yeah, buddy, I know—” Worry churned in her gut. She headed back up to the living room and turned on the lamps.  _ She decided to stay the night this time. _

As she did so, the familiar routine of headlights turned into the driveway. A bitter flavor rose up into Lana’s mouth. Mary Eunice unlocked the front door, but she left it slightly ajar as she spotted Lana. “Lana? What’s wrong?” Her question caused Lana to blink, and she realized tears slid down her cheeks. Angry at herself, she dashed them away and refused to shed any more. “What are you doing awake? It’s almost four-thirty.”

“I know what time it is!” Lana snapped. Mary Eunice blinked in surprise. The cold night air whistled past her into the living room. “Who is she?” Mary Eunice tilted her head in confusion, her brow fuddling. Her eyes were red-rimmed in the dim lamplight of the living room, like she’d been crying.  _ She’s cheating on me with somebody who is making her cry? _ Lana was now hurt  _ and _ furious, for she couldn’t turn off the part of her heart that wanted to hurt anyone who hurt Mary Eunice. “Who is she?” she asked again. 

Mary Eunice licked her lips. “Who is… who, Lana?” She reached out her hands to her. “You’re exhausted. You must be confused. Let me put you to bed.” 

“I am  _ not _ confused!” Lana refused to let Mary Eunice move her body from where she stood. “You’re out at all hours of the day, from sunup to sundown. You never come home for meals. You don’t kiss me anymore—we haven’t made love in over a month! You’re stiff when I touch you! You don’t smile when I call you beautiful or tell you I love you, you close your eyes when I try to tell you how I feel about you. You’re seeing someone else! It’s bad enough that you’re doing it, but it’s worse that you’re lying about it!” Lana’s heartbroken voice wrenched from her, not loud—not a shout. She didn’t want to shout and scare Mary Eunice. 

Azure eyes filled with tears. Mary Eunice’s mouth hung open in a small gape. She closed her lips, parted them again, closed them again, and lowered her head. Her eyes pointed at the carpet as she whispered, “I would  _ never _ do that to you… I’m sorry.” Her voice trembled into a quiet sob, and Gus trotted to her side and licked at her hand. 

The ajar door pushed open slightly, and Lana whipped around, prepared to battle the intruder. Instead, the stooped figure of Father Joseph entered the house. To his chest, he clutched a bundle of damp, snot-streaked blankets. From out of the blankets peeped the head of a cat, its jaw dangling loose and eyes open and unseeing. “If I may elucidate this matter, Miss Winters…” His voice was thick and hoarse with tears, his eyes red-rimmed like Mary Eunice’s. “Mary Eunice has been with me… me and Cornelius.” 

As he spoke, he stroked the head of the dead cat in his arms. “Cornelius was very sick. We took him to the vet, we tried to get him better, we spent hours trying to help him. I asked for Mary Eunice’s help, since that is her area of expertise, not mine.” He rearranged the blankets to mask the dead cat’s face from view. “But tonight his little body just gave up.” He had to clear his throat again to keep from breaking down in tears, which glimmered on the surface of his eyes. “I thought I might bury him in your yard, since I fear the diocese would have some untoward things to say about me placing him in the church graveyard.” 

Tears fell freely from Mary Eunice’s eyes. Her voice quivered. “I didn’t tell you because you were already so upset about Gus… I didn’t realize I was making things worse.” She wiped away her tears with her index finger. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again. 

Lana closed her eyes.  _ Oh, shit. _ She should have known better. “How big of an ass did I just make of myself?” she asked in a whisper. 

“In the interest of not inserting myself into this relationship, I’m going to abstain from answering that question,” Father Joseph said, but he wore a troubled wrinkle upon his face, and Lana knew he would not soon forget this encounter with her. 

Instead, she looked at Mary Eunice. “Colossal,” Mary Eunice answered, but she gave a sad smile and embraced Lana. “I’m so sorry. I should have just told you what I was doing… I didn’t want to make things harder for you, but if I had known how you were feeling…”

Lana shook her head. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” She kissed the tears from Mary Eunice’s cheeks. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me. I would have come to help, if you had asked.” She squeezed her hands. “Let me get a shovel. We’ll find a place for Cornelius in the backyard.”

They headed out together in the wee hours of the morning. Gus trotted around the yard and then sprawled out on the grass, enjoying licking the dew from the lawn. Lana plunged her shovel into the earth and dug a hole roughly the size of a shoebox, about two feet deep. Father Joseph wrapped up the cat in his blankets and placed him in the earth, and Mary Eunice used the shovel to press the dirt back on top of him. They bowed their heads as Father Joseph gave a blessing and a tearful prayer, and he hugged each of them, though Lana still felt she didn’t truly deserve his hug or his forgiveness with the scene she had made. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you back to the church?” Mary Eunice asked.

Father Joseph shook his head. The sun was starting to rise. “I’ll enjoy the sunrise and the fresh air. You both have done enough already.” He clasped Mary Eunice’s hand. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon.” She gave him a watery smile, and he turned away, marching across the lawn, to the sidewalk, and out of sight. 

Once his figure had vanished, Mary Eunice looked back up at Lana. She leaned in to kiss her, but Lana took her hand and whistled for Gus as they walked back inside. They couldn’t have such a public display outside, where others could see them. Gus jogged after them, his tongue hanging out in a happy pant, and he didn’t cough even as he struggled up the steps and into the house. Lana opened the windows and brewed a pot of coffee, and they sat side by side, watching the sunrise. Mary Eunice rested her head on Lana’s shoulder, eyes drowsing half-open. 

“I can’t believe you thought I was cheating on you with Father Joseph,” Mary Eunice mumbled, voice stricken by exhaustion as her eyes flitted up to the pink and amber streaks in the sky. 

“I didn’t think you were cheating on me with Father Joseph. I thought that was a ruse to cover up the fake woman you were actually seeing.” Lana sipped her coffee. 

Mary Eunice puffed a dry chuckle out of her nose. “You know I can’t lie to save my own life, Lana,” she reminded her patiently. She squeezed Lana’s hand. “But I am glad you think I could do better than  _ Father Joseph. _ I was a little offended you thought I would stoop  _ that  _ low.” Lana laughed and turned her head, smelling Mary Eunice’s hair. She kissed the crown of her head. “Where would I even meet another woman, anyway? The only places I go are work and church.” 

Lana raised her eyebrows. “In my head, she was a young, attractive, blonde nun.”

A silly giggle left Mary Eunice. “That’s not my type. That’s  _ your _ type.” 

“Well, what’s your type?” Mary Eunice shook her head. Lana nudged her. “C’mon, tell me. I won’t be upset, I promise.” Again, Mary Eunice refused. “You get to design your perfect woman. You’re God for a day and you’re making the human you want to have sex with the most.” 

Mary Eunice choked. “God doesn’t want to have sex with the humans he creates!” she insisted. Lana rolled her eyes, and after she said it, Mary Eunice seemed to realize that wasn’t supposed to be her takeaway from what Lana had said. Her voice softened. “I dunno. I guess I like dark hair, and dark eyes, and freckles… A little older. With a voice that makes me feel safe.” She paused, and then she said, “So, like, you, basically. You check all my boxes.”

Squeezing her hand, Lana couldn’t help but blush. “You’re very sweet, sunshine.”

“I think I like women who remind me of my mother.” The smile fell from Lana’s face and she turned her head to stare at Mary Eunice in horror. Mary Eunice caught her eye and laughed aloud. “I’m messing with you. But the look on your face was priceless.” Blue eyes gazed back out at the sunrise. Behind them, Gus snored loudly, a sweet, endearing sound they both cherished. “I’m sorry I upset you,” Mary Eunice apologized again. 

“No, I overreacted. I should have known better. I let my emotions get the best of me.” The sun-streaked clouds reflected on Mary Eunice’s face. “Did Cornelius tell you it was time?” Lana asked, a soft afterthought. 

Mary Eunice sucked in her bottom lip. “Yeah. He did. When he was ready, he stopped fighting.” She blinked down at the floor, crossing her legs. “Father Joseph doesn’t believe in euthanasia. Per the doctrine. But—even if it had been up to me, Cornelius was still having good days until a few days ago. He still wanted to be petted and watch the birds from his shelf in Father Joseph’s office. He’d still purr when you tossed the toy mouse for him, even when he couldn’t chase it anymore. He was still happy.” 

Lana fell silent, contemplative, before she asked, “Are you sure we’ll know when it’s Gus’s time?” 

Tender lips pressed to Lana’s cheek. “We’ll know,” she promised. Her fingers laced into Lana’s, their trust shared between their palms. 


End file.
